The Explanation Quest

I thought as I have told you the loose origins of the Skee Ball thing, it was only fair that I shared the origins of the other other two subjects, so here we go…

The Power Rangers Thing…

In 1993 when Mighty Morphing Power Rangers hit the UK like a tidal wave dressed in spandex I was 11 years old. 11 is an awkward age for boys, when only football is your safe haven to admit to liking. Having always been a toy fan though I was intrigued by the MMPR thing. I recall sitting in the back of a family friends car and their young son showing me his Power Rangers action figures. They were cool, they appealed to me in so many ways but I was 11… think football my brain was saying.

I didn’t succumb I buried the Power Ranger urge.

Robo Knight baby!

In 2005 the urge rose to the surface and so very nearly broke free. My online friend who was a big Transformers collector as I was at the time was buying up Power Rangers like nothing on earth. Every box arriving at his house contained a Megazord to the point he had to beat his Mum to the mail everyday to stash them away. He was encouraging me to join the craze and with the latest line SPD hitting the screens and the shelves and looking all spacey and policey and good I became sorely tempted. It was close, I so nearly succumbed, I sounded Lisa out to ensure a divorce wouldn’t follow if I added PR to my obsessions and she gave it the green light but I left it, I let it simmer, slow cook for now.

9 years on and a few weeks ago I bought my first Power Rangers toy. I was in our ‘The Entertainer’ store in Newport and the shelves were lined with PR Megaforce toys at half price. I plucked for the Red Ranger in the metallic finish and haven’t looked back, now 12 figures sit in my display cabinet looking all shiny and lovely and nights have been spent scouring eBay for the old toys. The Power Rangers bug was under my skin and borrowing it’s way to my brain…

So then I figured it was the time to watch the TV show but not just the series I was now collecting the toys of but every single episode and the movies. I want to see it all. I’ve decided I don’t have to start at the very beginning as the series are self-contained in the most part, so I will start with the durrent series Megaforce and go from there. Now where was that Netflix login?

Life Quest One was born.

The Pokemon Thing…

One day at college my friend presented me with a disk. This disk contained a Gameboy emulator and games, a lot of games and some of the Pokemon variety. I was a little worried, for this was the same friend who had given me a copy of the original Grand Theft Auto during my study leave for our GCSE and said if he was going to fail because of a game, I was too! Pokemon had just started making big noises, I had to see what the fuss was all about didn’t I?

I started a game on Red and was hooked, the monsters were great and the elemental fighting system clever. I loved the freedom of walking and talking to everyone and spent hours in the long grass hunting wild Pokemon.

The Quest DS

It exploded, the world went literally Poke mad and I embraced it. I bought the cards, the magazines, watched the show and Lisa and I took our younger siblings Phil and Fiona to see the first movie – they wanted to go honest, there was no dragging, no bribery…

Then it died off for me, I wasn’t as gripped on the newer games and the list of new Pokemon became less familiar to me. It evolved and I didn’t, I pressed B and stopped. Lisa loved it though, she is the only person in our household to complete a Pokedex. Her game on Yellow was incredible, she loved that Pikachu.

So a throwaway comment at work was all it took, someone mention the well know tagline ‘Gotta Catch ’em All’ and the lightbulb above my head burned so bright it hurts eyes to look at – I wanted to play Pokemon! Where to start though, there had been so many games and then I thought ‘flip, I’m going to play the lot’…

I bought another DS on eBay, that now takes our household total to 2 DS lites, 1 DSi XL, 1 3DS and 1 3DS XL. Oh and a Wii and a Wii U – we like our Nintendo! Sure I could have just picked up one of those but most are assigned to children and there seemed an almost romantic element of undertaking my quest on a pre-loved DS. It was silver, it had a Pokemon case and it was a tenner… it was fate. The case was for Pokemon Pearl, it seemed right that I started my journey with this title.

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One thought on “The Explanation Quest”

I mentioned this quest to Tim, and within seconds he sent me the following link:

sooo not only do I now know that you have a ‘thing’ for power rangers, I also know that he does too… (When Phil used to watch this all the time, I had a bit of a crush on the white ranger – who as the video shows, has not aged well. oh dear) Good luck with this quest, and I hope it doesn’t drive my poor sister too crazy!